202. Mana Cost and Color

202.1. A card’s mana cost is indicated by mana symbols near the top of the card. (See rule 107.4.) On most cards, these symbols are printed in the upper right corner. Some cards from the Future Sight set have alternate frames in which the mana symbols appear to the left of the illustration.

  • 202.1a The mana cost of an object represents what a player must spend from their mana pool to cast that card. Unless an object’s mana cost includes Phyrexian mana symbols (see rule 107.4f), paying that mana cost requires matching the type of any colored or colorless mana symbols as well as paying the generic mana indicated in the cost.
  • 202.1b Some objects have no mana cost. This normally includes all land cards, any other cards that have no mana symbols where their mana cost would appear, tokens (unless the effect that creates them specifies otherwise), and nontraditional Magic cards. Having no mana cost represents an unpayable cost (see rule 118.6). Note that lands are played without paying any costs (see rule 305, “Lands”).

202.2. An object is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its frame.

  • 202.2a The five colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. The white mana symbol is represented by {W}, blue by {U}, black by {B}, red by {R}, and green by {G}.

    Example: An object with a mana cost of {2}{W} is white, an object with a mana cost of {2} is colorless, and one with a mana cost of {2}{W}{B} is both white and black.

  • 202.2b Objects with no colored mana symbols in their mana costs are colorless.

  • 202.2c An object with two or more different colored mana symbols in its mana cost is each of the colors of those mana symbols. Most multicolored cards are printed with a gold frame, but this is not a requirement for a card to be multicolored.

  • 202.2d An object with one or more hybrid mana symbols and/or Phyrexian mana symbols in its mana cost is all of the colors of those mana symbols, in addition to any other colors the object might be. (Most cards with hybrid mana symbols in their mana costs are printed in a two-tone frame. See rule 107.4e.)

  • 202.2e An object may have a color indicator printed to the left of the type line. That object is each color denoted by that color indicator. (See rule 204.)

  • 202.2f Effects may change an object’s color, give a color to a colorless object, or make a colored object become colorless; see rule 105.3.

202.3. The mana value of an object is a number equal to the total amount of mana in its mana cost, regardless of color.

Example: A mana cost of {3}{U}{U} translates to a mana value of 5.

  • 202.3a The mana value of an object with no mana cost is 0, unless that object is the back face of a transforming double-faced permanent or is a melded permanent.

  • 202.3b The mana value of a transforming double-faced permanent or spell’s back face is calculated as though it had the mana cost of its front face. If a permanent or spell is a copy of the back face of a transforming double-faced card (even if the card representing that copy is itself a double-faced card), the mana value of the copy is 0.

    Example: Huntmaster of the Fells is a transforming double-faced card with mana cost {2}{R}{G}. Its mana value is 4. After it transforms to its other face (Ravager of the Fells), its mana value remains 4.

Example: A Clone enters the battlefield as a copy of Ravager of the Fells. Its mana value is 0.

Example: Insectile Aberration is the back face of a transforming double-faced card whose front face has mana cost {U}. It becomes a copy of Ravager of the Fells. Its mana value becomes 0.

  • 202.3c The mana value of a melded permanent is calculated as though it had the combined mana cost of the front faces of each card that represents it. If a permanent is a copy of a melded permanent (even if that copy is represented by two other meld cards), the mana value of the copy is 0.

  • 202.3d The mana value of a split card not on the stack or of a fused split spell on the stack is determined from the combined mana costs of its halves. Otherwise, while a split card is on the stack, the mana value of the spell is determined by the mana cost of the half that was chosen to be cast. See rule 709, “Split Cards.”

  • 202.3e When calculating the mana value of an object with an {X} in its mana cost, X is treated as 0 while the object is not on the stack, and X is treated as the number chosen for it while the object is on the stack.

  • 202.3f When calculating the mana value of an object with a hybrid mana symbol in its mana cost, use the largest component of each hybrid symbol.

    Example: The mana value of a card with mana cost {1}{W/U}{W/U} is 3.

Example: The mana value of a card with mana cost {2/B}{2/B}{2/B} is 6.

  • 202.3g Each Phyrexian mana symbol in a card’s mana cost contributes 1 to its mana value.

    Example: The mana value of a card with mana cost {1}{W/P}{W/P} is 3.

202.4. Any additional cost listed in an object’s rules text or imposed by an effect isn’t part of the mana cost. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) Such costs are paid at the same time as the spell’s other costs.